Page 26 of Three Beasts

Chapter 17

Jason

It’s almost as if the ominous rainclouds are foreshadowing my future.

I know. That’s really pretty fucking deep – coming from me.

I decided to take a ride on my Harley despite the oncoming storm. The bike is fairly new and I have to break her in.

I love this time by myself.

It's just me, the highway, and nature underfoot.

Riding clears my head like nothing else does, and I need this today with all the talk of war, and of course with Zeva on my mind.

Don’t get me wrong.I've fucked girls before when other guys were there.

Hell, I've shared women too. Threesomes? Done that. Even a fucking foursome before.

But never in my wildest fucking thoughts did I imagine to be in this position with my two closest pals of actually loving a woman.

The feeling is new. The territory is as of yet undiscovered. I’m not used to loving somebody and I try to stay away from it, but something about Zeva makes me want to try. She pulls a certain vulnerability out of me that I never thought was even there, and that vulnerability makes me weak in a certain way because suddenly it's not just my life I care about, it's hers too. I want her to know that she can depend on me. I'll always be here. She will not lose me to war, or battle, or violence of any kind.

Of course there are no guarantees in this life but what I can offer her is my best attempt to stay safe.

The ride clears my head enough to get past Zeva and to reflect on wars past.

She has a right to be concerned given that her dad, the toughest son-of-a-bitch I have ever known went down in flames. It seems like a tragedy. A vain kind of death.

I know she's sensitive to this life now that that's happened but she also grew up in it and shemust know how hard it is to leave.

Rays of the sun peek through the rain clouds and the sky is painted in the most incredible colors of orange and pink.

It's a sunset I'd like to show Zeva and I hope that somewhere she is seeing it too.

What the fuck is happening to me?

That’s when I realize.

That’s fucking love.

I’ve said it before, I told her I loved her as I looked into her eyes…but only now does it become real.

Just then another rider comes up behind me. He revs his engine in aggression and then swerves past me. I see him take off but not before I catch sight of the emblem on his bike.

I know that sign.

He's a member of the fucking Iron Legion.

It's starting.

I can almost feel the air shift to one permeable tension. If there's one, there's many.

I decide to follow him to get a sightline of where he might be going, where's he's staying, maybe even find more of his gang.

I follow discreetly at a slow pace. He probably knows I'm there behind him but if he does he doesn't let on.

He pulls up the diner, one of our favorite haunts and I pull up right beside him. He waits for me there on the sidewalk. We stare each other down.

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